Hobby horse device



Nov. 20, 1962 M. KATOGIR HOBBY HORSE DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 29, 1960 INVENTOR.

MICHAEL KATOGI R (apt ATTORNEY Nov. 20, 1962 M. KATOGIR 3, 8

HOBBY HORSE DEVICE Filed June 29, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR! MICHAEL KATOGIR ATTORNEY idfidfld? Patented Nov. 20, 1962 3,064,987 HOBBY HORSE DEVHCE Michael Katogir, 1210. Springdale Road NE., Atlanta 6, Ga. Filed June 29, 1960, Ser. No. 39,472 11 Claims. (Cl. 280-1175) This invention relates to amusement devices such as those upon, or in, which a person, usually a child, may move up-and-down and back-and-forth relative to the ground or floor in a general rocking movement.

Such devices are often in the form known as a rocking horse, though the invention is not so limited, and may include chairs, teeter boards, arcuate-runner sleds and the like.

One object of the invention is to provide a device which may, at will, be employed for conventional rocking enjoyment with substantially no movement from place to place or may be caused to creep along a surface during the rocking action, if desired, in a substantially smooth manner without bumping or irregular movement.

Another object of the invention is to provide floor engaging elements for attachment to rockers, which elements will not mar the floor yet may bias the rockers to move in a given direction over the floor.

Another object is to providesuch elements which may be readily mounted as an integral unit on conventional rockers without the need for pivot pins, axles, and the like.

Another object is to provide such a floor engaging element that may be easily mounted on a conventional wooden rocker by the use of ordinary simple hand tools.

The above objects are obtained in connection with an amusement device which, briefly described, includes a body member upon which a child may be disposed and a pair of laterally spaced arcuate members for supporting the body member in a manner for rocking. Resilient creeper blocks of generally oblong shape and having a lobe or book portion at one .end received in laterally cut, somewhat in dove-tailed shaped grooves project below the arcuate member in a generally saw-tooth pattern. As the body member is rocked, the creeper blocks act as ratchets against the floor causing the device to move, say, forward over the floor. When pure rocking movement is desired a pair of rockers alongside the arcuate members may be lowered to below the creeper blocks to prevent their engagement with the floor. The degree of creeping movement during rocking may be varied by varying the extent to which the rockers are lowered short of the lowest points on the creeper blocks.

In the accompanying drawing showing, by way of example, some of the many possible embodiments of the invention,

FIG. 1 is a perspective of the device.

FIG. 2 is a generally front view of a lower portion of the device showing the arcuate members, rockers and creeper blocks. r

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal mid-sectional view taken along line 3-3 in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 shows a detail of the mounting of the creeper blocks and operation on the arcuate members.

FIG. 5 shows a modification of the invention as shown in FIG. 3.

1 FIG. 6 is a partial side elevation partly broken away showing a modification of the present invention with the secondary rocker removed for simplicity.

FIG. 7 is a detail vertical cross section partly broken away of a further modification in the method of attaching the pushers to an extruded metal rocker.

The device 9 comprises a body member, generally designated 10, upon which a child may be disposed, as for example, as shown, upon a horse-shaped body member provided with a saddle seat 11, although as pointed out, the shape of the body member need not be limited to that of a horse and the body member need not have a distinct seat portion so long as it can support the child.

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawing wherein the invention is specifically shown in its preferred embodiment as a form of a hobby horse, the body member 10 is pro vided with legs 12 mounted fast on front and rear platforms 13 and 14, respectively, secured transversely on a pair of spaced rocker like arcuate right and left members, 15 and 16, which, indeed, may be rockers of a conventional rocking horse, having an under curved face 17.

Extending from and below the face 17 normally in somewhat of a saw-tooth pattern are a plurality of solid or one piece pusher or creeper members somewhat in the shape of oblong blocks 18 of resilient material, such as tough rubber, neoprene or plastic composition having similar properties. The pusher members are secured to the members 15 and 16 and resiliently yield from a normally slightly trailing inclined position shown in solid lines in FIG. 4 to some secondary position as S or even to a final position F wherein the rear face 19 ofthe pusher is against the curved face 17 of the arcuate member such as 16.

As the pusher yields resiliently when an elemental position of the arcuate member moves downwardly relative to the floor as shownby the arrow A, the pusher pivots or rolls on its lowest corner edge portion, rounded as at 20, and causesa movement of the member 16 in a longitudinal direction, as shown by the arrow B relative to the corner 20 engaging the floor. In FIG. 4, for the sake of simplicity in showing the action, member 16 is shown considered as stationary, with the floor (not shown) moving relative to the member. If the relative movement of the member 16 in the direction of arrow A is small, the creeping movement is comparatively large and approximately the distance D As the pusher swings to final position F with a linear displacement relative to the member 16 of D actual creeping will be somewhat less than D of the order of a distance D owing to compression of the pusher length- Wise. thereof and, because of the rocking motion, also a trailing pusher has already pushed the member 16 forward and given an inital tensile stress to the pusher and the tensile stress must be neutralized before pushing can commence.

The pusher has a substantially fiat front face 21 and an upper neck portion 22having a rear fiat face 23 continuous with the flat rear face 19 and remote from the front face. A forwardly directed partially cylindrical head part 24 integral with the neck, and having the axis of curvature passing transversely through the member 16, is disposed securely in a complementary downwardly and outwardly open slot 25 transverse the member 16. The slot has a partially cylindrical wall 26, a rear Wall 27 tangential thereto and a smaller forward wall 28, the latter two engaging against the neck. The pusher has a shoulder 29, adjacent the neck portion, normally in, or nearly in, engagement with the curved underface 17 to set the pusher normally in inclined position.

The pusher may be formed by extruding the material from whichit is made from an opening of shape comparable to the pusher profile, as shown in solid line in .FIG. 4, and then slicing off each pusher from the extruded stock.

The slot 25 is easily formed by boring a hole in member 16 and then sawing along the planes of Walls 27 and 2 8. i V

The pushers may then be forced side-wise, i.e. in the direction of the axis of curvature of the wall portion 26. Adhesive may be used to secure the pusher permanently in the slot or the adhesive may be omitted and the pusher held in merely by tightness of fit. An advantage of the latter usage is that certain of the pushers may be removed, say, every fourth pusher on each side of the horse but, say, out of phase from side to side so as to give during rocking an effect of trotting or pacing depending on the phase shift. By rearrangement in phase, galloping may be simulated. Other arrangements may be used to simulate rough riding.

It is preferable to provide the ends 30 and 30 of the arcuate members with end projections 31 extending below the pushers in final position to prevent the horse from tipping over.

Rockers 32 alongside and inner from the arcuate members 15 and 16 may be lowered to a variable degree relative to the pushers to reduce or eliminate the action of the latter by allowing the body to rock directly on the rockers instead of on any part of the pusher. Furthermore, the device can be turned to the right or left by lowering only one of the rockers 32 thereby neutralizing one set of blocks 18 while the blocks 18, say on arcuate member 16, continue to impart motion to the device 9. Thus it will be seen that if the pusher blocks 18 on member 15 are neutralized and the blocks on member 16 operate as usual, the device 9 will turn to the left. It therefore follows that if rocker 32 on member 16 is lowered independently of rocker 32 on member 15, the device 9 will turn to the right.

In FIG. 3 the rocker is shown provided with downwardly and forwardly sloped guide slots 33 in which retaining headed pins 34 secured fast to the adjacent arcuate member, such as 15, may slide. The pins in the slots constrain the rockers to move relative to the arcuate members so that the underface 35 of the rocker may become even with, or slightly below, the low points 20 of the series of pushers and so enable the rockers to rock without creeping on the floor. Relative downward movement of the rockers is effected by the action of L levers 37 pivotally mounted as at 38 in the corner thereof on mounting blocks 39 fast on the respective arcuate members at their forward end portions 30. Each lever has a forwardly extending input arm 40 with a rein 41 and acts on the rocker through a compensating link 42 to prevent galling at the slots 33 which are preferably straight. Springs 43 bias the rockers to retracted position.

Since lowering of the rockers becomes in fact a jacking up of the major part of the device and any person thereon, the lever applies its force in a direction to allow relative forward pulling of the rockers and so obtain inclined plane mechanical advantage by the action of the pins 34 in the inclined slots.

In another form of the invention as shown in FIG. the lever action is somewhat similar to that in FIG. 3. However, the rocker 32' difiers from rocker 32 in that the former has greater freedom of movement and friction is usually reduced. The rocker is mounted on the armated member by like front and rear double hinge linkage means, generally designated 44 and 44'. Such means include a forward hinge bearing 45 fast on the member 15 and a rear hinge bearing 46 fast on the rocker at their respective upper faces 47 and 48. The two bearings are connected by a yoke member 49 disposed in pintle fashion in the two respective bearings, which allows much the same movement of the rocker as in FIG. 3. It will be noted that the relation of rocker 32' and member 15 is such that a dead center position of yoke 49 is obviated.

The upper face 48 of the rocker 32' is provided with front and rear rounded projections 51, respectively, normally engaged against the platforms 13 and 14 at the underface thereof and adapted to abut therewith.

While it is preferable to place the pushers in individual sockets along the under surface of the rockers, its is sometimes advantageous to form the pushers on a solid strip which can be more easily attached to a rocker. Therefore, it is seen in FIG. 6 that the pushers 70 are integrally formed on an elongate flat strip 71. Pushers 70 are formed similar to pushers 18 except that pushers 70 are attached by web 72 to strip 71. Web 72 is formed with a radius 73 rearward thereof and a longitudinal bore 74 substantially through the center of the pusher and tangent to the lower surface 75 of strip 71. Formed at the upper forward end of pusher 70 is a narrow slot 76 terminating in bore 74. The purpose of slot 76, it will be noted, is to allow greater flexibility of pusher 70 at web 72 while forming a shoulder similar to the shoulder 29 and for the same purpose.

One advantage of the modified form of the invention is that it may be attached to existing rocker type devices without the need of a plurality of tools that would be necessary to attach the individual pushers, as pusher 18, to the rocker. Strip 71 may be attached by any convenient means, such as by cement, nails or screws, to the lower surface of a rocker such as conventional rocker 77.

FIGURE 7 shows a method of attaching a strip 71 of pushers 70' to an extruded metal rocker. Such a rocker would be formed as an inverted U-shaped channel, as rocker 80 in FIG. 7, and being similar in side elevation to rocker 77 in FIG. 6. It will be seen that strip 71 is formed with an upstanding central ridge portion 81 which is engaged by the depending walls 82 of channel shaped rocker 80 and is frictionally held or attached thereto by any convenient means (not shown) such as by bolts, cement or pins.

By varying the tension on the reins 41 of either form of the invention to bring the rockers below the final pusher position, the action of the device can be modified. Extreme lowered position eliminates the effect of the pushers; furthermore, lowering only one rocker effects turning of the device. Due to the fact that the center of gravity shifts constantly from over one group of pushers to another, and dynamic forces are at times quite large, an almost infinite number of effects can be obtained.

I claim:

1. An amusement device comprising a body member on which a person may be disposed; mounting members having rocker-like portions having underfaces and secured fast relative to the body member, for supporting same and provided with spaced transverse downwardly open slots, an inner portion of each slot being wider than an outer portion thereof, and an inclined generally oblong pusher member of resilient material in each slot and having a neck portion in the narrower portion of the slot and a head in the wider portion of the slot and sufficiently tight in the slot so as to be retained therein.

2. In an amusement device, a body and arcuate rocker members therefor, the members being substantially parallel with each other and having curved faces; a plurality of generally oblong pusher members of resilient material projecting outwardly from said faces, and secured to the rocker member in dove-tailing fashion, and all normally inclined to the faces at the zone of securement with substantially the .same degree of inclination, each of said pusher members having a shoulder for abutting the surface of its member to prevent flexure of the pusher member in the direction of the shoulder.

3. In a device as claimed in claim 2, the pusher members each being of rubber-like material and including a head and neck portion, the head portion being secured in the rocker member, the neck portion being of reduced cross sectional area to permit flexure of the pusher member substantially thereat.

4. In a hobby horse, a body member and rocker-like arcuate members fast therewith, the members being provided with transverse downwardly and laterally open slots and curved underfaces, the width of the slots being greater in some zones thereof than at the underfaces; pusher members in at least some of the slots, and extending inclined from the underfaces, the pusher members being of resilient material and having as an integral part of mounting portion substantially complementary my. is

with said slots for lateral insertion therein, said mounting portion being snugly received in one of the slots.

5. In an amusement device, the combination of an arcuate member having a curved outer face; and at least one integral creeper member of resilient material and of generally oblong shape secured to the arcuate member and projecting from said face, the creeper member having a substantially planar rear face meeting the curved face of the arcuate member at an acute angle and extending into the arcuate member thereagainst, and having a frontal shoulder substantially against the curved face, and having a neck portion between the shoulder and rear face for permitting rearward flexing of the creeper member, the shoulder substantially preventing forward fiexure of the creeper member.

6. In an amusement device, the combination of an arcuate member having a curved outer face; and at least one integral creeper member of resilient material and of generally oblong shape secured to the arcuate member and projecting from said face; the creeper member hav ing a substantially planar rear face meeting the curved face of the arcuate member at an acute angle and extending into the arcuate member thereagainst, and having a frontal shoulder substantially against the curved face, and having a neck portion between the shoulder and rear face for permitting rearward flexing of the creeper member, the shoulder substantially preventing forward flexure of the creeper member; said arcuate member being provided with spaced under-cut grooves, each groove being outwardly and laterally open and having a flat wall against a portion of said rear face and a partially cylindrical wall tangentially merging with the flat wall, said creeper member including a beaded portion contiguous with the neck portion and projecting generally toward the shoulder and, with the neck portion, substantially filling said groove and resiliently snugly received in the groove.

7. A combination as claimed in claim 6, each said creeper member being laterally movable out of said groove for varying the number and position of creeper members on the arcuate member.

8. In a hobby horse, a body; a pair of rocker-like members secured to the body and having inclined spaced tooth-like projections of resilient material secured fast on the members for flexing and causing the members to creep in a given direction by a ratchet-like action when the members are rocked on a flat surface, a pair of rockers disposed alongside said members; means for mounting the rockers on the members for individually selective movement relative to the members for permitting the rockers individually to extend below the projections and prevent rocking engagement of the projections with said surface; levers pivotally mounted on the respective members and having output arms connected to the rockers for moving the rockers below the projections, and having input arms, and reins attached to the input arms for a person upon the body to draw and to vary the relative positions of the rockers and members from the floor to variably limit the flexing of the projections and the creep.

9. In a hobby horse, a body; a pair of rocker-like members secured to the body and having inclined spaced tooth-like projections of resilient material secured fast on the members for flexing and causing the members to creep in a given direction by a ratchet-like action when the members are rocked on a flat surface, a pair of rockers disposed alongside said members; means for mounting the rockers on the members for movement relative to the members for permitting the rockers to extend below the projections and prevent the projections from engaging with said surface; levers pivotally mounted on the respective members and having output arms connected to the rockers for moving the rockers below the projections, and having input arms, and reins attached to the input arms for a person upon the body to draw and to vary the relative positions of the rockers and members from the floor to variably limit the flexing of the projections and creep; headed pins passing through res ective slots in said members and fast on the members for holding the rockers substantially against the members during relative movement between the two, the slots being inclined so that relative generally longitudinal movement of the rockers and members will produce relative downward movement of the rocker with a mechanical advantage.

10. In a hobby horse, a pair of rocker-like arcuate members having front and rear end portions and top faces; front and rear transverse platforms fast on the members at the faces and a body secured to each platform; flexible creeper pushers fast on the arcuate members for causing the horse to creep forward during rocking; a pair of rockers having top faces alongside inner from the members and under the platforms; front and rear linkage means for holding the rockers substantially against the members and allowing downward movement of the rockers relative to the members so that the rockers may lift the members and pushers from a flat surface on which the horse is rocked, and said linkage means including a hinge bearings fast on the top faces of the members and another hinge plates on the top face of the rockers, and U-members as two-axis pintle pieces disposed in the hinge plates for holding the latter in pre determined relative positions, said rockers being controllable independently of each other.

11. In a hobby horse as claimed in claim 10, said rockers having rounded projections at the top faces and respective end portions thereof under and engageable against the platforms and springs urging said rockers upwardly such that said projections engage said platforms.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,527,916 Pontius Feb. 24, 1925 1,635,375 Mathers July 12, 1927 FOREIGN PATENTS 270,563 Switzerland Dec. 1, 1950 

